For 2013 I am planning to add to this blog quick and easy dinners. Let's face it there are many nights we have dance and soccer and homework...  and end up with pizza or take out. So in 2013 I will share quick and easy recipes and ideas to eat at home (which usually means healthier) more often.     Cooking tip: when you make brown rice double it. Allow half to cool. Place cooled rice and put in freezer. When you need brown rice you can reheat in microwave in 2-3 minutes.   Here is quick and easy recipe from Healthiest Food on Earth Cookbook.  Only takes about 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.  Serve with a salas for a great weeknight meal.        Red beans, brown rice and lean meat

2 tsp olive oil 1/2 red onion, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic clove, minced 1 lb leanest ground beef or turkey 1/2 tsp liquid smoke 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1 tsp oregano 2 cans red kidney beans (or 3 cups fresh cooked beans) 1 red bell pepper seeded and chopped 1/2 Jalapeno pepper seeded and finely chopped (optional) 1 can diced tomato 1/2 cup water 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1/3 cup Spanish olives, chopped 2 tbsp capers drained 2 cups long-grain brown rice, cooked

1 Heat olive oil over medium heat and sauté onions and garlic until tender about 5 minutes. 2 Add meat and cook until browned 5-6 minutes. 3 Drain off excess oil. 4 Add liquid smoke, salt, pepper and oregano sauté 2 minutes. 5 Add beans, pepper and stir in water and tomato paste. 6 Bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes. 7 Add olives and capers. Fold in rice and serve hot.

Servings: 6

Quick Pesto Pasta

CSA ingredients: basil, garlic

 

Tonight I did not plan ahead for dinner, 6pm rolls around now what?  Should we order pizza?  No- we ate out for lunch what can we have a home?  This was a quick dinner solution.

In this weeks box was a bunch of basil.  I have an herb garden but my basil is not growing great this year so the basil bunch was destined for pesto.

Pesto

2 cups basil leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup parmesean cheese, grated

1 tbsp pinenuts (can use walnuts instead)

1 cloves garlic

salt to taste (may not need any!)

1/4 cup of reserved cooking water (from pasta)- this helps reduce the amount of oil you need

Put all the ingredients except water into food processor with steel cutting blade.  Pulse until a course paste is formed.  Add hot water and pulse a few more times to blend.  Mix with up to one pound of cooked pasta.

Kitchen TIP: Make pasta while water coming to boil and prepare the rest while the pasta cooks.

Kitchen TIP: Double or triple this if you have lot of basil.  You can freeze the basil in 1/2 or cup sizes or put into an ice cube tray and freeze.  Than put the frozen pesto cubes in a freezer bag.  They defrost in a minute in the microwave.  They are very nice to add to a soup or as a spread on a panini.

Green Bean Pesto Pasta

You can really add almost anything to pasta and make a pesto pasta meal!  Here is tonight's version based on what was avaliable in the fridge.  If there are leftovers it can be served cold or room temperature for a great lunch.  The nuts add some protein and flavor. 

1 box whole wheat penne pasta

Pesto- 1 recipe above

2 cups green beans cut in 1 inch pieces

1 cup grape tomates, halved

1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese

1/4 cup chopped and toasted walnuts

Cook pasta cooked al dente in lightly salted water.  During last 5 minutes of cooking the pasta throw in the green beans into the boiling water with the pasta.  Drain.  Add pasta, beans, and pesto to bowl and mix.  Add in tomatoes.  Top with cheese and nuts. 

"Sweet Fish" Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon

This is the recipe for those who "don't like fish or salmon" and a great way to get kids hooked on fish.  My kids LOVE this meal- in fact recently each child got to pick their favorite dinner and this was selected twice!  We serve with couscous and steamed broccoli.  During the summer I wrap the entire piece of fish in foil creating a foil pouch and put directly on the grill over med-high for 20minutes- yum!

Salmon is one of the healthiest foods you can eat.  It is loaded with omega fatty acids.  This means good for your heart, brain and a spectrum of health benefits.  Eating 2 serving of salmon or other fish rich in omega 3's twice a week appear to have equal benefits to fish oil supplements.  Unfortunately, the farmed raised variety feed contains chemical contaminates that may cancel out the health benefits.  The farm raised variety is much easier to find and less expensive so when I  looked into this I was disappointed to find out the problems. So choose wild salmon whenever possible.  The farm raised variety is fed fish meal that can be polluted with toxic PCB chemicals, contain unwanted antibiotics and is harming the wild population by spreading disease into the ocean that are killing off the wild fish.  Other good fish sources of omega 3 fatty acids include mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines and albacore tuna.  If fresh wild salmon is not available consider trying frozen- since most "fresh" fish in the grocery has been previously frozen it is fresher then the ones sitting 1-3 days waiting to get sold.  If flash frozen at sea it is as fresh as you can get outside of catching it yourself. 

Brown sugar glazed salmon

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large salmon fillet

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2. Line baking sheet with foil

3. Place salmon skin side down on foil

4. Drizzle with olive oil

5. Mix brown sugar and pepper and sprinkle onto of salmon

6. Bake 20-25 minutes until flakes easily

Servings: 4

Ratings

EVERYONE *****

Chicken and Black Bean Quesadilla

 Black Bean and Chicken Quesadilla

This is a family fun recipe.  It is quite simple and fun for the kids- they get to assemble their own dinner.

Since we are focusing on whole grains lets start with choosing the tortillas.   Here is the label from ours- these are whole grain tortillas.  Notice the flour is enriched wheat flour- this is not as good as "wheat flour" which would be 100% whole grains.  However, the fiber content is 4gms likley from the addition of a multi-grained blend.  They also do not have partially hydrogenated oils often found in tortillas to enhance shelf life. More on this to come but basically partially hydrogenated oils raise your bad cholesterol and should be avoided. 

Next selection is the cheese. This is an inexpensive meal so the cheese is the place to make sure to get a high quality product.  This variety is hormone and antibiotic free (more on this to come later as well).  By using a reduced fat product you also decrease saturated fat intake which is what gives cheese its bad reputation.

Recipe:


6 whole grain torillas
2 cups cooked chicken cut in bite sized pieces
1 cup shredded cheese
1 can black beans drained
diced cilantro
Pepper and onion blend sauteed (this was a frozen variety- if not using organic make sure to rinse even if frozen to reduce residual pesticides)

Spray one side of tortilla with cooking spray and turn over.  Assemble with toppings of choice- basically do not use more then 2 spoonfuls of each or you cannot fold it in half. 

Place onto griddle over med-low heat and grill until cheese melted and tortilla crisp.

Serve with sour cream and salsa if desired.

We also had a mixed green salad.

Ratings:- I will put ratings for each meal to give you the family perspective.  This gives you an idea of how 2 seven year olds and a 4 year old did with the meal!

5 stars- I want this every night!  My favorite!
4 stars- I want this again-loved it.
3 stars- Very good. Would make it again.
2 stars- Good.
1 star- OK
0 stars- yuck! Never agian- we are ordering out tonight.

Jamie: ****
Meredith: ****
Clay: ****
Colin: ****
Lexi: **